Chapter 3 #2
“You work here, lil homie?” He was facing me, but she still had her back to me. I could tell when she realized it was me, because she sighed, exhaling all the breath in her body. At this point she should have been used to this.
He looked from me to Karim a few times before nearly stuttering a response. “Uh yeah, I was just helping her, someone else will be right with yo—”
“We together, you’re helping us.” By the time Karim finally turned around, Romance was comfortable on the table with her little legs crossed and my phone grasping all her attention.
When Karim looked at me, her stare was hard and irritated, a good indication that she was about to curse me out, but then it softened.
Her eyes found Romance, no anger in them but curiosity.
“Romance,” I said.
“Huh, Daddy?” she asked. It took her a minute, but she looked up at me.
“This is my friend, Rim. Rim, this is my daughter, Romance.”
Romance waved at Karim who smiled back.
“Hey, cutie,” Rim greeted.
My baby giggled before her attention went back to my phone. Yeah, we needed that tablet quickly because I hadn’t shared a phone since I was twelve.
“So, Pops, what are you doing up here? You bring your daughter to stalk too now?” Karim finally graced me with her attention. It was everything as usual.
I couldn’t help but take her in like I always did.
Karim was on the shorter side, standing at five foot five with the attitude of a firecracker.
She was the warmest shade of honey with mocha tinted freckles overtaking both her nose and some of her cheeks.
She hated them and I loved looking at them.
Shit, I loved looking at her. Those almond tinted eyes and that heated gaze.
I knew her features better than I knew the back of my hand.
Karim had this full head of hair I always wanted to touch.
I might have had she not always been pissed with me.
She had good reason though, I wasn’t shit.
Not only that, but even though I knew I wasn’t what she needed, my selfishness wouldn’t allow me to leave her alone.
“I can’t be out here sharing phones. Lil mama be hogging it.” I cut my eyes in my daughter’s direction.
Rim laughed. “You can’t control every woman in your life, Reminisce.”
“Don’t I know?” I chuckled, looking her up and down.
“Ms. Ortega, we have the new phone in the cosmic orange you were looking for.”
“Good, put it on his tab.” She cut her eyes in my direction.
I grinned. She knew I wasn’t gonna tell her no. Never could, never would.
“Alright, is that all you need?” Ol’ boy asked, now focused on me. He had less energy with me than her.
“No, I need a tablet. Matter of fact, make that two. Gimme that small one and the larger one. I don’t give a shit what colors.”
“Yes he does. Make them pink. It doesn’t matter the storage capacity,” Karim responded before ol’ boy walked away.
“Are you gonna eat with us after this?”
She looked from me to Romance. “Um… how do you know I don’t have plans?”
“The fuck you think I care for, Karim? Tell whatever nigga you call yourself entertaining you got something else to do.”
She laughed. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?”
I was about to respond, but my baby was speaking before I could. “Daddy, we go eat?”
“Yeah, Ro. Do you want Rim to eat with us?”
She looked up momentarily from the phone. “Yes. You eat with us Rim?” she asked. Her eyes were so expressive and filled with so much childlike joy that it made my heart smile. Shit, everything about this child affected my chest. In the lamest of terms, she was my heart.
Karim smiled at my daughter. “Yeah, pretty girl, I’ll go eat with you.” Then, in the slickest way, she hit me in my side.
I coughed, because for a woman Rim hit harder than any nigga I had encountered, especially if she caught me off guard.
“Yeah, my daughter ain’t gonna like you for too long. Got your ass in here beating on her daddy.”
“Reminisce, stop cursing around this baby. You don’t wanna get around somebody and she starts cursing.”
I shrugged. “She good, plus she don’t be listening to anything I say.”
Karim shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. She still shouldn’t have to hear you dropping all those curse words. Clean up your language, Reminisce.”
I was seconds from telling her I wasn’t cleaning up a motherfucking thing when lil man came back holding the boxes. I was about to look at him when I heard my baby’s voice and felt her tugging at my jacket. “Daddy, call coming.”
I glanced down and looked at the screen of my phone. It showed my sister was requesting to FaceTime.
“Answer it. That’s your auntie.”
Lil mama lit up and immediately clicked the screen to answer for Jade.
“So you bought her two iPads for what?” Karim asked, eyes lulling over Romance who was staring down at the iPad she had set up for her.
“I’m keeping the small one in the car so when that big one goes dead, she can hop on it. I don’t like sharing my phone. Every time I get it back it’s sticky and dying.”
Karim laughed. “You act like you don’t wanna be bothered, but your eyes light up every time she says daddy. I see it, Pops.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, you don’t. Why am I just now talking to you?” Karim’s eyes finally left Romance and landed on me. They were always so expressive and life filled.
“Because you haven’t picked up a phone to call me, shorty,” I responded honestly.
She rolled her eyes. “When do I ever? You just pop up when you’re here?”
“And what, you miss that?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you meant. Right?”
“Why do you make things so difficult?” She was irritated. I could tell when her eyes went tight.
“I ain’t making anything difficult, Karim. If you miss me, say that shit then. Ain’t no need to be feigning attitudes.”
The way she looked at me let me know she wanted to murder my ass but would spare me only because my daughter was sitting a few feet from her.
“Whatever.”
Now she was mad and that was so fucking sexy. “I missed your fine ass too, even though you acted like you couldn’t tell me that.”
Within seconds she was smiling. One thing about Karim, she couldn’t stay mad with me no matter how much I ever fucked up.
We talked for a while longer. In true Karim fashion, she continued avoiding saying she missed me, but what the fuck did I expect?
Even though I was the emotionally delayed one, she took the cake every time I even thought about taking it that way with her.
It was cool though, because while Romance spent time with her cousins, I’d be pulling up.
I knew like hell she had me fucked up if she thought she’d ever pay any nigga some real attention that wasn’t me.
I was tired of playing these dumb ass games that neither of us ever won.
My first stop would be by this property I’d purchased to rehab and flip.
What was wild was I’d bought it along with a few others, but this one I’d sat on.
I did more customizing with less plans of selling.
It wasn’t until I found out I had Romance and sat up way too long one night thinking about everything that I decided I wanted to raise my child there.
So over the last couple weeks I had been conversing with Jason more and putting more into it.
Later that evening, when we finally made it to G’s house after dinner with Karim, I finally felt like I could breathe.
Around her that shit felt hard at times.
I was always holding back what I should’ve been saying.
I couldn’t fathom the bullshit I’d gone through with Pynk repeating itself.
Though I knew Rim wasn’t Pynk, my trauma with connections still existed.
“You bought her two iPads?” my brother asked, reentering the kitchen, holding two beers.
I accepted the beer he extended. “I’ont like sharing my phone. Phone be sticky, hot, and dead by the time she gives my shit back.”
A chuckle escaped G’s lips. “Price of having kids. How is everything though?”
“Takes some getting used to and I still ain’t used to it. I’m not planning to jump off a ten-story building or anything if that’s what you’re asking.” I laughed.
He nodded. “Good, and I told you that you’d get the hang of it. Plus, you got the weekend off, seeing as how Beyah is in there spoiling her right now before she starts her hair.”
I drank from the beer, mentally wondering where the hell I was even going to go or what I’d do. Two weeks wasn’t a long time, but it was enough time in my life to get used to being in the house with her.
“Yo, you look like you don’t know what to do with yourself.” G picked up on my confusion.
“You right, I don’t. You said weekend and it hit me like bricks. Shit, I need to be getting her some clothes. What? She has too many colors and patterns. What happened to all the primaries?”
He laughed. “Yo, you’re hell and you gonna be pissed when you see what all Bey bought as well.”
I shook my head. “She can wear that shit with y’all but with me she’ll wear colors that don’t trigger my migraines.”
I spent a while longer at G’s house before heading out.
I wanted to see the new additions to the house before losing daylight.
No one besides Oden knew about this property and he only knew about it because when I was thinking about buying, I’d asked him a few questions and he put me in touch with Jason.
“So where you about to, kid-less nigga?” my twin asked through the phone as I drove away from G’s.
“Check on something, then check on somebody.” I smiled at the thought of that last part. No matter how much I overthought it or under maneuvered it, I wanted Karim. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew what I wanted and that was her.
“Somebody being your sister’s friend. Didn’t she tell you to leave her friend alone if you can’t get your shit together for her?”
I laughed, maneuvering into the driveway of my house. Just from the outside, I could see it was coming together nicely. I even noticed the work van on the side, letting me know Jason was here still working.
“So, you gonna kee—”
“Your sister needs to be worried about that baby in her stomach and let me worry about Rim. I got that handled.”
Rennix laughed. “I bet you won’t say that shit to her.”
“Nope, I won’t. She has too many hormones moving through her right now. Everything I say to that woman is wrong. That’s how I know her son is gonna look like me because she hates my ass right now.” I laughed. Jade bickered at me every chance she got.
“Yo, you’re a fool. But for real you really like ol’ girl, huh?”
I nodded as if he could see me. “You sound childish as hell, but yeah, I do. I gotta approach this shit from a different angle though, move a little lighter, because she’s different from anybody else.”
“Yeah, she is. She’ll pop your ass.” More laughter ensued.
I was serious about Karim though. I either had to step up or leave her the fuck alone. Something about earlier, sitting at lunch with her and my child, felt right. She felt right and I had to stop fucking up because I’d end any nigga she called herself entertaining.